PGGM Investments Sells 26,525 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

PGGM Investments lessened its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 83.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,237 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 26,525 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in AMETEK were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AME shares. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $172.54 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $183.15 and a 200-day moving average of $180.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK Company Profile

AMETEK, Inc manufactures and sells electronic instruments and electromechanical devices in the North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, and internationally. The company's EIG segment offers advanced instruments for the process, aerospace, power, and industrial markets; process and analytical instruments for the oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, automation, and food and beverage industries; instruments to the laboratory equipment, ultra-precision manufacturing, medical, and test and measurement markets; power quality monitoring and c devices, uninterruptible power supplies, programmable power and electromagnetic compatibility test equipment, and sensors for gas turbines and dashboard instruments; heavy trucks, instrumentation, and controls for the food and beverage industries; and aircraft and engine sensors, power supplies, embedded computing, monitoring, fuel and fluid measurement, and data acquisition systems for aerospace and defense industry.